1. Field of the Invention
This application relates to the field of solar tracking devices and more specifically to dual axis solar tracking devices that are employed in the generation of electrical energy. Even more specifically, this invention is related to dual axis solar tracking devices that can be easily deployed and have an excellent ability to track the sun in order to produce green energy therefrom.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Since there has been available technology, there has been an effort to harness the energy that is produced on a daily basis by the sun. Well known among these efforts is a means of producing electrical energy using solar devices that employ solar collection devices of well-known materials that collect the sun's energy. These collection elements (also known as photovoltaic P.V. cells) are usually mounted on a flat panel (now known as a P.V. module) with a protective skin or other layer laid over the top. These modules are then grouped as P.V. arrays. As the sun hits the collection elements, heat and energy is produced. Some of these devices are manufactured so as to move as the sun moves across the sky during the day and to present the flat array perpendicular to the sun's rays. This power as produced is then fed into the electrical grid and transmitted to sites where it is useful. These devices have come into high use recently as there is a continuing effort to produce renewable energy that does not require the use of fossil fuels, for example. Renewable energy is considered to be clean and green with little or no production of pollution. Farms of these arrays are now becoming common around the world.
As I mentioned, some of these devices are set to track the path of the sun during the day and thus to be more energy efficient and are placed throughout the world. Arrays of these panels mounted on suitable base supports and then linked together in a collection and transmission make more efficient use of such elements, compared to immovable (fixed) arrays. Most of these prior art devices are also situated in areas of high sunlight and long, sunny days. In my previously filed invention (AT-100-A, U.S. Ser. No. 12/590,749, filed Nov. 16, 2009), I describe segmented base supports for these trackers that permit their installation in areas where the grounds might be unsteady or suitable for such heavy elements. In that invention, the base supports will hold the heavy devices even on landfill areas, Brownfields and superfund sites that may now be closed to use. Such areas are usually free of high vegetation, are flat in nature and open to the sky so as to be eminently suitable for solar collectors.
There has, however, been a long standing need to have such solar collecting devices that can be rotated 360° while in a flat or horizontal mode and at least from 90° to 10° when in a vertical mode relative to the earth. Both of these states are requisite to the proper operation of solar collection devices in a variety of climates. Both modes are necessary so as to present the array in a perpendicular position to the sun during the day from early morning to the evening all year long. Both of these modes are also requisite to position the array in a vertical position so that the flat surfaces are safely positioned during storms or high winds in order to preclude damage to the sensitive surfaces of such devices. Most prior art devices cannot fully achieve these limits and are thus defective in getting the best out of the device itself. There is a pressing need to offer a solar collection device that can fully achieve a panel rotation of 360° whilst in the full, flat and horizontal position and from a 90° position in the horizontal position to a 10° position relative to the earth. No prior art solar collection devices can attain these positions and most can rotate only 270° in the horizontal or azmuthal position and can lower only to around 20°.